(Newser)
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With a week to go before the Iowa caucuses begin, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Martin O'Malley treated a CNN town hall event as their last chance to make a pitch to the state's voters. But this was no debate: The candidates appeared in turn to take questions from moderators and audience members. Some highlights, per the Hill, CNN, the Washington Post, the Des Moines Register, and Politico:

Hillary Clinton

"Sorry President Obama, sorry Bill—Abraham Lincoln," Clinton said when asked who her favorite president was. She praised the "astonishing" way Lincoln kept building the country while fighting a war to keep it together.

"You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose," she said after being shown Sanders' "America" campaign ad. "I think that's fabulous. I loved it," she said of the ad.

"They throw all these things at me, and I'm still standing," she said when a young man questioned her honesty, apparently referring to her email debacle. "I've been on the front lines of change and progress since I was your age," she told the man.

Bernie Sanders

"On Day 1, I said the Keystone Pipeline is a dumb idea, " Sanders said, wondering why it took Hillary Clinton so long to oppose it. He also mentioned the Iraq War and Wall Street deregulation while listing his problems with Clinton's record.

"Yes, we will raise taxes," he said when asked about his health care plan, warning that corporations and the super-rich can expect to pay more. "We may raise taxes, but we are going to eliminate private health insurance premiums for individuals and businesses," he said.

"He had a lot of experience, too," Sanders said of Dick Cheney, rebutting Clinton's argument that her experience makes her a better candidate.

"I'm going on 75! So are you," Sanders told moderator Chris Cuomo when asked about his age. He promised that he will release his medical records this week and said there's nothing surprising in them.

Martin O'Malley

"Hold strong at your caucus, because America's looking for a new leader," O'Malley, who's polling in the low single digits, said when asked who his caucus-goers' second choice should be.

"Climate change is the greatest business opportunity to come to the United States in 100 years," he said, describing the issue as the one that should be most important to young voters.

Bernie Sanders has been given a free ride by the press. There's tons of tough questions and opinions directed at Clinton but where's the scrutiny for Bernie? It's time for the press to ask some tough questions and find out more about him. Better do it now than wait for Republicans to do it if he wins the nomination.

FarmerM

Jan 26, 2016 12:31 PM CST

History buff she isn't. Lincoln split the country when he got elected. He is remembered for the ways he left to rebind the wounds, something that wasn't fully implemented until the Marshall Plan rebuilt Europe after WWII.

vi.ulyanov

Jan 26, 2016 11:18 AM CST

Abe Lincoln, Hillary's favorite President, was a Republican. Hillary cottons to the black voters again. Bernie is correct, she will say anything and do anything to get elected. The candidate who promises me the most free stuff gets my vote; no doubt that will be a Democrat.